Following a global pandemic that put the film industry in a multi-year plight, it’s touching to see the art form make a comeback finally.
Since 2020, the industry has struggled to make meaningful profits.
The three highest-grossing films of that year were “The Eight Hundred,” “Demon Slayer: Mugen Train” and “Bad Boys for Life.” The overall worldwide box office revenue of 2020 was $2.1 billion.
At a glance, that may seem like a significant amount of money, but to put things into perspective, from 2009 to 2019, the worldwide box office was $10 billion or higher.
Multiple films a year would cross the $1 billion mark, a stat that not a single 2020 film could even reach halfway to.
Since then, the worldwide box office has seen a steady incline, with 2023 scoring a respectable $8.9 billion.
The 10 highest-grossing films of the year were “Barbie,” “The Super Mario Bros. Movie,” “Oppenheimer,” “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol.3,” “Fast X,” “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse,” “Wonka,” “The Little Mermaid,” “Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part 1” and “Elemental.”
The last high-grossing year was 2019, at $11.3 billion. Some of the highest-grossing films of that year included “Avengers: Endgame,” “Frozen II,” “Star Wars: Episode IX — The Rise of Skywalker” and “Toy Story 4.”
The biggest difference between the two years? 2019’s top ten highest-grossing films were almost exclusively remakes or sequels. Sure, 2023 still included many high-profile franchises, but a majority of these were franchises that have yet to receive successful film adaptations.
We’ll always have sites like IMDb, Rotten Tomatoes and Letterboxd that allow us to give our opinions about our favorite movies, but at the end of the day, audiences will vote with their wallets above all else.
Without a doubt, the most successful genre of the past decade has been superhero films.
In 2019, four superhero films grossed over $1 billion, including “Avengers: Endgame,” which grossed nearly $2.8 billion.
We’ve finally seen this behemoth of a genre falter in the past year.
2023 saw seven new superhero films, yet only two of them, “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3” and “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse,” turned a decent profit. The other films either failed financially or barely made their money back.
This is because both films have a much larger importance to the overall cultural zeitgeist.
The “Guardians of the Galaxy” franchise has existed since 2014 and has become one of the most beloved of the past decade.
Whether it’s Chris Pratt’s charm, Dave Bautista’s humor or Rocket Racoon’s heartbreaking backstory, this ragtag team of galactic heroes has touched the hearts of millions. Because of this, it’s unsurprising that audiences around the globe wanted to experience this group’s final ride among the stars.
While long-time emotional connection, fueled “Guardians of the Galaxy,” “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse” garnered its box office success through pure creativity. The original film, “Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse,” grossed $384 million against a budget of $90 million. It wasn’t a smashing success, but its outstanding, Oscar-winning reception proved that an outlandish, animated Spider-Man film had the potential to do great numbers.
Its 2023 sequel earned nearly $670 million against a budget of $100 million.
Aside from the superhero genre, other highly profitable films of 2023 include “Oppenheimer,” “Barbie,” “The Super Mario Bros. Movie,” “Talk to Me,” “Anyone But You,” “Five Nights at Freddy’s” and more.
Every single one of these films is a new idea or is bringing already-famous intellectual properties to the big screen. As months have passed, it’s become increasingly obvious that a new generation of filmgoers are excited to see new brands brought to life. Studios have gotten lazy with their rinse-and-repeat model and it’s time that audiences show them they’re no longer going to sit through mediocre content.